We were introduced to the pilot of the balloon. Mike then went over the basic rules, 1. dont get out and 2. dont get out unless instructed by Mike to do so. We then signed the required wavers and proceeded to hop in the basket and off we went.
Debbie was the first one into the basket
One of the ground crew snapped this of Debbie and I right before we lifted off
Looking into the envelope of the balloon
One of those noisy propane burns giving us lift
Once off the ground it was a nice quiet ride ( well except for when he hit the burners to heat the insed of the balloon ) . Its quite different from an airliner as you really have no sensation of pressure or actualy rising. We went as high as a mile up and it didnt feel any different than when we were 500 feet of the ground. Out of the 10 of us on the ride, 6 were from out of state, we even had a lady fron Calgary, Alberta, Canada with us. Mike proceeded to give us all a little lecture on the sights, the different plants, trees and animals we might see. Being the natives we are, Debbie and I knew most of what Mike was mentioning and were familiar witht he sights but it gave us a unique perspective on our hometown.
Subdivision in Peoria, AZ
Lake Pleasant in the distance
It was a great time. Kinda funny side note. Ive lived in Arizona all my life and the only time I had previously seen Javelina were in teh zoo. As our balloon flight was nearly over we flew over a family of four javelina. Kinda cool even if we did scare the hell out of the little baby javelinas. The balloon ride was just part of the experience. This was a sunset flight. Im pretty biased but IMHO there arent many places that have comparable sunsets to ours.
Self portrait of Debbie and I with the sunset
After we landed ( in the middle of a dry wash ) in the middle of the dessert, the support truck and van were waiting for us. Just when you might think our experience wouldve been over, you were wrong. Waiting for us were two tables with table cloths, fine china and linens, champagne flutes and hour derves. Yes, we cracked open champagne, gave a toast had a drink and sat down to some great food and conversation. It was nice and dark by then but the candlelight allowed us to see. After a while ( and 4 glasses of champagne ) it was time to head back to Deer Valley Airport and call it a night. We definatley had a blast and might someday do another balloon ride.Captain Mike breaking open the first bottle of bubbly
Our food
Debbie hording the bubbly =)
The end of a wonderful experience fading with the sun
4 comments:
What a great trip! That looks like so much fun. DW & I did a helicopter tour in Hawaii many years ago and it sounds like this would be more relaxing and better for picture taking.
Stephen,
There was a time or two while we were up there that I wished I had a D60 instead of our pont and shoot. Especialy when we saw the javelinas. I didnt get a real good shot of them.
that sounds AWESOME!!! maybe you could send my hubby the infor!! We need to start thinking of our plans for going to the snow...
That looks really cool. :) Some of my other friends took their 1st balloon ride last month. Between their photos and yours, I now have this on my list of things that I want to do someday.
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